The Senate and the Affordable Care Act

Instead of moving forward to create jobs and strengthen our economy, Senate Republicans want to refight the battles of the past and vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act – the new health reform law.

It’s important to remember what repealing the Affordable Care Act would mean to millions of Americans. Without the new law:

• Over 1.2 million young adults will lose their insurance coverage through their parents’ health plans.
• Up to 4 million small businesses that would have been eligible for health care tax credits will pay higher taxes.
• 44 million Americans on Medicare will be denied free preventive care and seniors who hit the donut hole will pay more for their prescription drugs.
• Insurance companies will have free rein to once again deny coverage to people, including children, with pre-existing conditions, cancel coverage when people get sick, and limit the amount of care people get, even when they need it.  
• Insurance companies will be free to once again raise premiums by double digits with no recourse or accountability. 
• As many as 32 million Americans who would have gained insurance under the new law will go without coverage.
• Families will pay higher premiums. For example, compared to what they would have paid without the law, the Affordable Care Act could save a family of four with an income of $33,525 as much as $14,900 per year.

By rolling back the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are also voting to add a trillion dollars to the deficit. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has concluded that repealing the Affordable Care Act would add nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars to the deficit in the first decade – $230 billion – and more than a trillion dollars in the second decade.  

And according to independent experts, repealing the Affordable Care Act would prevent 250,000 – 400,000 jobs from being created each year.

President Obama and his team are committed to moving forward and delivering the benefits of the new law to the American people. We know that health reform is already delivering tax credits to small business owners like Betsy Burton of Salt Lake City, Utah. Thanks to the new law, young Americans like Kayla Holmstrom of Brookings, South Dakota are able to stay on their parent’s health plan. James Howard of Katy, Texas, a brain cancer patient, has the treatment he needs. And Cathy Lynn Howell from Marblehead, Ohio finally has insurance after being locked out of the insurance marketplace because of her pre-existing condition.

We featured all of these Americans in our Voices of Health Reform project and they are just a few of the millions of people who are already benefitting from the Affordable Care Act. And we’re committed to moving forward, strengthening the health care system for all of us and delivering the benefits of reform to the American people.

Stephanie Cutter is Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor.